Part 2 (1/2)
FANTAIL WARBLER (_Cisticola cursitans_)
Resident: builds a deep purse-like nest supported on long grass or rushes]
Riding light, with the ”irreducible s, one may traverse Spain from end to end But it is only a hasty and superficial view that is thus obtainable, and except for those who love roughing it for roughness' sake, even the freedorave drawbacks in a land where none live in the country and none travel off stated tracks In the _ca--neither food for man nor beast--can be obtained, and no provision exists for travellers where travellers never come The little rural hostelry of northern lands has no place; there is instead a _venta_ or _posada_ which may too often be likened to a stable for beasts with an extra stall for their riders It is a characteristic of pastoral countries everywhere that their rude inhabitants discriminate little between the needs of man and beast
But even towns of quite considerable size--when far removed from the track--are totally devoid of inns in our sense Inns are not needed The few Spanish travellers who, greatly daring, venture so far afield, usually bespeak beforehand the hospitality of some local friend or acquaintance
[Illustration: TYPES OF SPANISH BIRD-LIFE
ROCK-THRUSH (_Petrocincla saxatilis_)
A beautiful spring-e, and black, with a white ”mirror” in centre of back
Female, yellon barred with black]
Incidentally it may be added that a visit to one of these out-of-the-world cities--asleepand restful change amidst the racket of exploration One breathes aprehistoric peeps in lost cities replete for the antiquary with historic otten lore No one cares
Yet in those bygone days of Spain's world-power these soht stuff,--a ed to the type satirised by Cervantes,--but hts-errant, Paladins and Crusaders, to conquer and to shape the course of history Is the old spirit extinct? Our own iht ready to spring to life like the stones of Deucalion, so soon as Spain shall have shaken off her incubus of lethargy and the tyranny that clogs the wheels of progress Nor need the interval be long
That sound human material continues to exist in rural Spain we have had recent evidence during the calling-out of levies of young troops ordered abroad to serve their country in Morocco None could witness the entrainment at some re struck by their bearing, their set purpose, and above all their patriotism With such material, with a well cared-for, contented, and loyal arraduated but equally resolute, Spain moves forward Alfonso XIII is a soldier first--No!
Above that he is a king by nature, but his care for his ar and will make for the honour, safety, and advancement of his country
To resu across bush-clad hills, over far-spread prairie, or through the defiles of the sierra, as shadows lengthen the proble obtrudes
There is a variety of solutions At a pinch--as when belated or benighted--one may, in desperate resort, seek shelter in a _choza_ Now a _choza_ is the reed-thatched hut which forms the rural peasant's lonely horace and a courtesy--aye, a courtliness--that characterises even the humblest in Spain The best there is will be at your disposal; yet--if permissible to say so in face of such splendid hospitality (and in the hope that these good leather-clad friends of ours may not read this book)--the open air is preferable There exists in a _choza_ absolutely no acco round the interior, or a withy fra with their doratefully pay this due tribute to our peasant friends--but let us sleep outside
At each village will usually be found a _posada_ These differ in degree, mostly from bad doards The lowlier sort--little better than the _choza_--is but a long, low, one-storeyed barn which you share with felloayfarers, and your own and their beasts, or any others that may come in, barely separated by a thatched partition that is neither noise-proof nor scent-proof We can call instances to , and all, human and other, shared alike
There are no s--ht and air are excluded; if open, hens, dogs, and cats will enter with the dawn--the former to finish what reiht, have scurried across your sleeping forht we spent this last spring in northern Estremadura:--
[Illustration: A VILLAGE _POSADA_]
Owing to a miscalculation of distance, it was an hour after sundown ere we reached our destination, a lonely haood little Galician ponies were dead-beat, for we had been in the saddle since 5 AM, and it was past eight ere we toiled up that last steep, rock-terraced slope We were a party of three, with a local guide and our own Sancho Panza--faithful co At a dilapidated hovel, the last in the village and perched on a crag, we drew rein, and after repeated knocks the door was opened by a girl--she had set down a five-year-old child around-floor being (as usual) a stable To our inquiry as to food--and the hunger of the lost was upon us--our hostess esture of open hands, answered ”Nada”--nothing! Sancho, however, was equal to the occasion Within two minutes, while we yet stood disconsolate, he returned with a cackling cockerel in his arirl, and turned to unload the ponies
What an age a cockerel takes to cook! It was er satisfied, we could turn in In an upper den were two alcoves with beds, or rather stone ledges, ordinarily used by the faned to us, the luckless No 3 by lot having toon a filthy floor) with three cranky tables of varying heights, and whose united lengths proved a foot too short at either end!
Oh, the joy of the 's dawn and delicious freshness of the mountain air, as we turned out at five o'clock for yet another ten-league spell to our next destination Two nights later we slept in the gilded luxury of Madrid! But hoe abused our previous neglect in not having brought a caloomier side of the picture, and there is a reverse, even in _posadas_ We cannot better describe the latter side than in our oords from _Wild Spain_:--
A NIGHT AT A _POSADA_ (ANDALUCIA)
The wayfarer has been travelling all day across the scrub-clad wastes, fragrant with rose beyond a stray shepherd or a band of noht he reaches soe where he seeks the rude _posada_ He sees his horse provided with a good feed of barley and as aled with one dish--probably the _olla_ or a _guiso_ (stew) of kid, either of them, as a rule, of a rich red-brick hue, from the colour of the red pepper or capsicue, which is an important (and potent) co _olla_ will presently be set on a table before the large wood-fire, and with the best of crisp white bread and wine, the traveller enjoys his uest that o What a fund of infor that promiscuous supper! There will be the housewife, the barber, and the padre of the village, perhaps a goatherd come down from the mountains, a muleteer, and a charcoal-burner or two, each ready to tell his own tale, or to enter into friendly discussion with the ”Ingles” Then, as you light your _breva_, a note or two struck on the guitar falls on ears predisposed to be pleased
Hoell one knows those first few opening notes: no occasion to ask that it o on: it will all co in prospect One by one the villagers drop in, and an ever-widening circle is formed around the open hearth, rows of children collect, even the dogs draw around to look on The player and the coradually waruenas_ follow in quick succession These songs are generally topical, and almost always extempore; and as , one enjoys many verses that are very prettily as well as wittily conceived